Tanner Smith 2021 Addiction Effects of brief substance use interventions in general medical settings system review meta analysis.pdf (1.08 MB)

This systematic review observed results that "suggested alcohol BIs may have the smallest effects when delivered in emergency departments or trauma centers, versus other GM settings."

"For alcohol-targeted BIs...results were consistent with prior literature indicating small beneficial reductions in self-reported alcohol use, roughly equivalent to a reduction from 11.6 to 10.7 drinking days per month. Effects were larger for alcohol BIs delivered in-person or in a general medical setting (vs emergency
department/trauma center settings), but were also larger in trials with
higher risk of bias. These small effects of alcohol BIs may not be clinically
meaningful at the individual level...; however, these small effects may still be clinically meaningful at the population level. Future research should consider the
population effects of BIs, distinct from individual effects, where small
mean changes over large numbers of people could potentially reduce
population level harms. Further, effects of this magnitude could be
clinically meaningful for certain population subgroups, such as adolescents
and young adults, if a one-day reduction in drinking could interrupt
a trajectory from experimentation to an alcohol use disorder.